Are you a Starbucks Fan? Well, CEO Howard Schultz just gave us another reason to visit the ubiquitous coffee chain. Towleroad.com reports:

At the company’s annual meeting Wednesday, shareholder Tom Strobhar suggested that the boycott had indeed bled the company of value.”In the first fill quarter after this boycott was announced, our sales and our earnings — shall we say politely — were a bit disappointing,” he said.

CEO Howard Schultz shot back that the decision to back gay marriage was not about the bottom line, but about respecting diversity. He said the company had delivered a healthy return last year, boycott or no. “If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38 percent you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares of Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much,” he said, to loud applause from the audience.

Not to mention the fact that any given Starbucks in a rural area is the place to find progressive folks and the gays…

Google Tom Strohbar. He is a “financial adviser” and rabble rouser for the Religious Right”. His financial services site says:

“His advocacy on behalf of morally responsible investing has earned Thomas the reputation as one of the best known investment professionals in his field. He has stood up to fight corporate involvement in pornography, abortion, and gay marriage by speaking at corporate meetings”
(Apparently “moral” investing is also anti-progressive and conflates issues of pornography with Women’s Right to Choose and Marriage Equality”
and further:
“provides stock market screening information to a number of large professional organizations. This information helps Catholic dioceses and religious orders comply with the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops’ Investment Guidelines. This information has been helpful in avoiding companies involved in immoral business pursuits especially pornography and abortion. Evangelical groups have been especially appreciative where this applies to gambling and corporations that support gay marriage.”

Thank you, Starbucks, for your support. You’ve given me just one more reason to stop by on my way home from work today and flash my SB gold card, bringing me one star closer to my next FREE reward! I’m happy to pay for your products and the premium you charge in lieu of giving my money to other companies who don’t express their support or express their intolerance instead.

wow! I am only buying starbucks coffee from now on! I have to budget but I support those who support me and my partner! I will even go so far as to go work at a starbucks in some manner if needed and do it happily!

I stopped buying Starbucks for two reasons, one the right to choice; it is one thing for someone to murder people with guns, people get emotional and in a uproar over guns but they won’t become outraged with every murder of a child.

The second is marriage. Marriage is not a progressive issue, it is an issue of what is right and wrong. I don’t have issues with gays have equal access to healthcare, and other benefits where they have been left on the short end of the deal.

I’m a proud owner of Starbucks stock and had the FULL support of the store I worked at, the staff I worked with, and the company when I was half of the first same-sex couple in Alberta (and in Canada) to get a marriage license after it became federally legal. Some of my best friends are still from Starbucks and I’m proud to know the names of my baristas at my favourite store. Starbucks ROCKS!!

man you people are ignorant to the brim of a starbucks coofee cup. of course he’ll say that, and of course it means the bottom line, the man himself is probably disgusted by same sex marriage but he’s a businesman out to make money. if his company is suffering it’s his job to come in and clean up.

“i’m going to be buying at starbucks now” fuck you. you are what is wrong with the world today.

Since when is marriage a religious thing? I don’t understand how people can say that gay people shouldn’t be allowed to get married because it violates their religion. Marriage has NOTHING to do with religion. All you need to get married is a court house and a signature. Besides, with the stats straight marriage has im surprised they have the guts to talk out on how godly and moral marriage is. Seeing how around half of all marriages end in divorce, throw in all the domestic disturbance calls that the police get (the most common police call), and add in the fact that you are most likely to be killed by your spouse. I think trying to say marriage is moral is just absurd. The only reason people are against it is because they are bigots. They have insecurities, and instead of sorting through it themselves, they take it out on other people by spewing hate and trying to take away peoples RIGHTS as HUMAN BEINGS. By saying gay marriage is morally wrong, and voicing their opinions, they are making themselves look more upstanding and righteous. Taking the heat off their own morale judgements. No one is without sin, and he who casts the first stone is usually the one with the real problems.

I don’t care if cross-species marriage were the issue, Starbuck investors hired Schultz to put his energy and enthusiasm into the business, not to polish his progressive credentials at the expense of Starbuck’s bottom line.

Well,… For Me, it’s the old Coffee Pot and My Amora and Maxwell House fresh ground Coffee. Can’t stand Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or any other pre-brewed Coffee. I only check out this site to get a few laughs from the Pro’s & Con’s of the Gay and Lesbian crowd. I’m Straight, but have nothing against the same sex movement. As long as they’re having fun, let them be! Cheers!